Epilogue 1

I pressed the SQUEEZE button and felt the bed pinch. With a few more clicks, I was lying in my bed in my room on Windfall Drive. I pulled the pillow and phone hard until they popped out, and then put them back where they belonged. It was a normal bed again, at least for now. I laid down my head, wanting to fall asleep. It felt strange to be back, but I didn’t have much time to dwell on it. I could hear my mom on the phone downstairs.

“Where could they be?” she asked frantically.“We’ll go looking again in the morning. Maybe they went camping,” my dad said, trying to hide his own concern.“They ran away from school, took all of the food and a bed to go camping? Who takes a bed camping?!” my mother cried.“They’re kids, they don’t know how to camp. Heck, I don’t even know how to camp,” my father said.

I called down to them, “Mom! Dad!”

They ran upstairs in no time at all and threw open my door. “Cal! You’re okay!” they said, hugging me fiercely.

“Of course I am. Soy and I were out camping is all," I said, too tired to think of a different excuse. My dad gave my mom a knowing grin and a nudge. She was not amused.

“What do you mean camping?! How did you get your bed up here?! What were you thinking? You are more grounded than you’ve ever been in your entire life!” my mom said without taking a breath.